Mar 1, 2015

Six More Unknown Godchildren of Joseph Haydn

In an article titled "Three Unknown Godchildren of Joseph Haydn", which I published in September 2014 on this blog, I dealt with Haydn's role as a multiple godfather and how this role documents his social relations with relatives, friends and colleagues. I presented a list of Haydn's known godchildren and pointed out that "this list is neither definite nor complete and if necessary, will be corrected or extended in the future". In the course of my continuing research on Haydn's Viennese friends I had to realize that very little seems to have been done in this particular field. While research on Mozart's Viennese circle has never received appropriate attention, the situation concerning Haydn's is even worse. This seems to be caused by the lack of a scholarly institution in Vienna that is exclusively dedicated to Haydn research.

Six children of the court trumpeter Anton Weidinger, for whom Haydn in 1796 wrote his trumpet concerto Hob.VIIe:1, were godchildren of Haydn. That this has not become known until now may come as a surprise, but the surprise is lessened by the fact that the last person who delved into Weidinger's private life was Richard Heuberger who in 1907 had a conversation with Anna Weidinger (1855-1911), the widow of Weidinger's grandson Ferdinand Weidinger (1849-1898). Heuberger published the results of his research in the article "Anton Weidinger. Biographische Skizze" (Die Musik, vol. 28, Berlin and Leipzig 1908). As of 1984, Makoto Ohmiya and Sonja Gerlach, the editors of the trumpet concerto for the Haydn Gesamtausgabe, were not even aware of Weidinger's correct year of birth, although it had already been published in 1886 in vol. 53 of Wurzbach's Lexikon.

The first page of the autograph of Haydn's trumpet concerto (A-Wgm, Joseph Haydn A 153)

I shall not present a detailed biography of Anton Weidinger in this blogpost. This extensive task should be done by Haydn scholars whose job it is to do this kind of work. I am going to present Haydn's six godchildren and a number of mostly unknown documents that shed light on their and their parents' lives.

1) Joseph Weidinger

Anton Weidinger's second child Joseph was born on 17 December 1798 at St. Ulrich 105, "Zum Sterbenden Joseph", ("The Dying Joseph", last numbering 128, today Piaristengasse 23) and baptized in the presence of Joseph Haydn at the Piarist Church of Maria Treu.

The entry concerning the baptism of Joseph Weidinger on 17 December 1798 (Maria Treu, Tom. 7, fol. 203). This and the following pictures show two-page entries with their two sections positioned above one another.

Joseph Weidinger was to be the only child from Anton Weidinger's first marriage that reached adulthood. It was obvious that he received trumpet lessons to take up the same profession as his grandfather, his father and his two uncles Joseph and Franz. As a sideline he also learned to play the keyed horn that his father had invented. On 28 November 1813 Joseph Weidinger performed a concerto that had been especially written for the keyed horn. The advertisement in the Wiener Zeitung of 21 November 1813 – with the boy's age revised to twelve years – read as follows:

Concert Announcement

The undersigned, who on his travels to the capitals of England and France raised universal cheer for the keyed trumpet that he had been the first to invent, has the honor of announcing to the high nobility and the honorable public that he has also invented a horn with keys which differs from the normal instrument of the same name in such a way that, just like on a string instrument, all half notes can be played in piano, crescendo, forte et cetera through 3 octaves in equal strength and in tune. –– His son, a pupil of his, a boy of 12 years, will have the honor of letting himself be heard on Sunday, the 28th of this month at noon in the small I. & R. Redoutensaal with a concerto that was newly composed for this organised horn. He dares to leave it to the impartial judgement of lovers and connoiseurs of musical art, as to what extent this instrument, owing to his invention, can be preferred to others of the same name and can claim to receive praise from the high nobility and the honorable public. The admission price is 2 fl Viennese Currency.

Anton Weidinger, I. & R. Court trumpeter.

In his 1993 thesis about Anton Weidinger, Andreas Lindner claims that this concert was repeated on 28 December 1813, but this claim is based on an error by Heuberger. Referring to Hanslick's Geschichte des Concertwesens Lindner also states that Joseph Weidinger already appeared at a concert in 1810, but there is no such information in Hanslick's book. As a matter of fact this information also originates from Heuberger, but this early concert appearance is still undocumented. On 25 March 1817 Joseph Weidinger took part in a concert at the Josephstädter Theater for the benefit of its musical director Aloys Merk. He performed an Adagio and a Rondeau for the keyed horn, composed by Franz de Paula Roser (1779-1830). The review in the Wiener Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of 10 April especially praised Weidinger's execution of difficult trills.

Wiener Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 10 April 1817, col. 116

On 30 March 1817 Joseph Weidinger again appeared at a concert at the same theater, this time together with his father. The report in the AmZ praised the artists for "treating their instruments with special delicacy for which they were noisily called for."

Matthias Franz Perth's entry in his diary concerning his attendance of the concert of father and son Weidinger on 4 May 1817: "Today at noon the k.k. court trumpeter Mr. Anton Weidinger gave a grand concert at the small Redoutensaal, where he let himself be heard on the keyed trumpet that he invented and his son on a newly invented keyed horn." (A-Wst, Perth, Tage-Buch, C H.I.N. 226988/30, p. 291).

The issue that reviewers of Weidinger's concerts sometimes avoided to address, was the question whether the gain of chromatic notes of the keyed instruments made up for the loss of brightness of tone. The Wiener Zeitschrift reported as follows:

Wiener Zeitschrift, 7 May 1817, p. 312

On this occasion we again had the opportunity to acknowledge the effect of the keyed horn and the keyed trumpet and to do justice to the skill of the inventor regarding the handling of his instrument during the performance. Whether the horn and the trumpet, because of the attached key, lose their original character and become similar to other instruments, without achieving the full range of scale, is a question we do not want to decide. The performer and his son played an Adagio and a Rondo, and a Potpourri from Tancredi, all of which were arranged by Franz Roser, with applause that was also given to the artists and amateurs who had the kindness to take over the singing and declamation parts.

Concerts by Anton Weidinger and/or his son were considered an institution. In his 1869 book Geschichte des Concertwesens in WienEduard Hanslick describes these activities as follows:

The trumpet was represented by an excellent virtuoso, the court trumpeter Anton Weidinger, who from 1800 on became a steady figure in Viennese concert life and like Miss Auernhammer and the harpist Müller gave his annual concert at the Burgtheater, until in the 1820s his son Josef († 1832) took over from him, to take care of the artistic preservation of the keyed trumpet and the name Weidinger by giving an annual concert. A. Weidinger was the inventor of the keyed trumpet which he exclusively used in his concerts.

There are still many announcements and reviews of Weidinger concerts to be found in Viennese newspapers. We have to keep in mind however that – just like the premiere of Haydn's trumpet concerto on 28 March 1800 – most of these concerts were very poorly attended. Around 1816 Joseph Weidinger was hired as trumpeter by the Lower Austrian Landstände. On 27 April 1829 he got married to Rosalia Eder, the daughter of Philipp Eder, a boatmen from Großrußbach. At the time of the wedding he was living at Leopoldstadt 101 (today Untere Augartenstraße 16). The bride was already five months pregnant.

The entry concerning the wedding of the "n.oe. Landschaftstrompeter" Joseph Weidinger on 27 April 1829. The groom's best man, the "Musikdirektor" Ferdinand Maurer, was a nephew of Anton Weidinger's second wife (St. Leopold, Tom. 14, fol. 268).

Right after his wedding Joseph Weidinger and his wife moved to Leopoldstadt No. 108 (today Untere Augartenstraße 22-24) where on 23 August 1829 their daughter Magdalena Josepha was born (St. Leopold, Tom. 22, fol. 159). The godmother was Magdalena Weidinger, the widow of the child's greatuncle, the court trumpeter Joseph Weidinger, who had died on 24 February 1829 at the age of 74 (the date given in the literature is wrong) at his brother's earlier address St. Ulrich 128 (formerly 105) (Maria Treu, Tom. 9, fol. 132). The child Magdalena Weidinger already died on 8 September 1829 of "Fraisen" (St. Leopold, Tom. 8, fol. 256). In 1830 Joseph Weidinger and his wife were registered by the conscription office at their address Leopoldstadt 108.

The "nieder-oesterreichischer Landschafts=Trompeter" Joseph Weidinger died on 4 June 1832 at the young age of 34 of tuberculosis of the liver, a disease that he had probably contracted from his late mother.

According to Joseph Weidinger's Sperrs-Relation he was survived by his wife Rosalia and his four-month-old son Anton whose guardianship was taken by "Anton Weidinger k.k. Hoftrompeter in der Josephstadt in dem Hause, wo die Bezirks Direction ist." This refers to the Josephstadt police headquarters which were located at Anton Weidinger's address, Strozzengrund No. 57 (today Strozzigasse 42). Joseph Weidinger left absolutely no assets. His clothing was sold to cover the medical expenses. His burial was paid for by his father.

The title page of Joseph Weidinger's Sperrs-Relation. The note referring to Anton Weidinger''s guardianship and address is at the bottom (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 1902/1832).

Rosalia Weidinger survived her husband only by a little more than two years. She died of "Auszehrung" (consumption) on 23 July 1834 at Leopoldstadt No. 593 (today Obere Donaustraße 43). Surprisingly Anton Weidinger's grandson Anton Karl was not taken into the home of his grandfather, but was put into the orphanage on the Alsergrund.

Franz Thaddäus Weidinger was born on 11 March 1804 at St. Ulrich 105. On the occasion of the christening on the following day at the Piarist Church Haydn's cook Anna Kremnitzer stood proxy for her employer who was probably staying in Eisenstadt.

Franz Weidinger already died on 29 June 1804 of hydrocephalus (Maria Treu, Tom 6, fol. 155). The three-year gap between the births of Aloys and Franz Weidinger was caused by Anton Weidinger's concert tour in Germany, France and England.

5) Carolina Weidinger

Carolina Weidinger was born on 14 April 1805 at St. Ulrich 105 and baptized the following day. Haydn's housekeeper Anna
Kremnitzer again stood in for her employer.

Carolina Weidinger died on 21 September 1805 of hydrocephalus. The death records of the Josephstadt parish erroneously list her as "Karl" Weidinger (Maria Treu, Tom 6, fol. 186).

6) Ferdinand Carl Borromäus Weidinger

Ferdinand Weidinger was born on 8 May 1806 at St. Ulrich 105. Anna
Kremnitzer again substituted Haydn at the baptism at Maria Treu. The child was very likely named after Anton Weidinger's close friend Ferdinand Kimm (1779-1835), a butcher in Gumpendorf.

Anna Kremnitzer's role as Haydn's proxy at the baptisms of three of Anton Weidinger's children puts her appearance as godmother for Johann Elßler's son Anton on 17 November 1806 in Gumpendorf into a different perspective.

The entry concerning the baptism of Anton Elßler on 17 November 1806 with the description of the godparent: "Anna Gremnitzer, a housekeeper with Mr. Joseph Hayden" (Gumpendorf, Tom. 14, fol. 247).

In Anton Elßler's baptismal entry Anna Kremnitzer is given as godmother, but the fact that she is explicitly described as "eine Wirthschafterin bey H[errn] Joseph Hayden" makes it seem possible that she actually stood proxy for the composer and the parish priest did not realize this circumstance. On 6 April 1808 Kremnitzer also served as godmother of Therese Elßler, but in the entry concerning this baptism Haydn's name does not appear and Kremnitzer is only given as "Wirthschafterin" (Gumpendorf, Tom. 15, fol. 30).

Haydn's Maid Anna Kremnitzer

Very little is known about Haydn's housekeeper Anna Kremnitzer and official Haydn scholarship has never done anything to change this. In paragraph 27 of Haydn's first will, dated 6 December 1801, she is bequeathed 1,000 gulden, a full year's income of 40 gulden, her bedclothes, furniture and several other items. According to an entry on a conscription sheet of Haydn's house Windmühle 84 she was born around 1750 and in 1805 was erroneously described as widow.

In paragraph 41 of his second will, dated 7 February 1809, Haydn significantly increased Kremnitzer's inheritance. Since the translation in Robbins Landon's Chronicle is flawed, I present a corrected edition of this paragraph. Robbins Landon erroneously gives an amount of only 600 gulden and includes the bed which is not mentioned in the second will. That Anna Kremnitzer had lent Haydn 200 gulden which he gave back to her as a gift after his death, is obviously an error by the scribe. It was the other way around: Kremnitzer borrowed 200 gulden from Haydn and was forgiven her debt by her employer.

Paragraph 41 of Haydn's second will concerning the bequest to Anna Kremnitzer (A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten H9/1, fol. 2r). Owing to many errors in translations of documents like this, Robbins Landon's Chronicle and Works is in desperate need of a revised and corrected new edition.

41stly: I bequeath six thousend gulden to my faithful and honest cook, Anna Kremnitzer, as well as the bedclothes in her room on which she lies, then two sheets, 4 chairs, a hardwood table, then a hardwood cabinet with drawers, a repeater, the mirror, the picture of the Holy Virgin, the fragment of the True Cross, the iron, the earthen kitchenware together with all small pieces of kitchen utensils; apart from that I bequeath to her the two hundred gulden in cash that she lent me [i.e. that I lent her].

After Haydn's death Anna Kremnitzer's moved to Johann Elßler's house Gumpendorf 38 (today Hofmühlgasse 16) where she lived as a subtenant of the family of the harness maker Anton Bandschur. An entry in a conscription sheet of that house gives Kremnitzer's year of birth as 1754. Her status was first given as "Wittwe" which was crossed out and replaced with the note "ledig" (unmarried). Her profession is given as "Weisnäderin" (seamstress).

Anna Kremnitzer listed on a conscription sheet from around 1810, together with the family of Anton Bandschur at Gumpendorf 38 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Gumpendorf 38/5r)

Kremnitzer's relation to the Elßler family seems to have been much closer than that to her employer Haydn. On 23 June 1810 she engraved her name into Viennese local history when she officiated as godmother of Fanny Elßler who was to become Austria's most famous dancer. In the records Kremnitzer is given as "Anna Kremnitzin Weisnaderin".

The entry concerning the baptism of Franziska Elßler in the Gumpendorf parish church (Gumpendorf, Tom. 15, fol. 160)

Kremnitzer's date of death is unknown. Since she had inherited 6,000 gulden from Haydn, she was able to move away from Gumpendorf. She did not die in the Gumpendorf parish.

Anna Weidinger, a Goddaughter of Anna Haydn

Soon
after his wedding in 1797 Anton Weidinger moved from Josephstadt 124 to the
house St. Ulrich No. 20 which was located at the "Platzl", right
opposite St. Ulrich's Church.

In
this house, called "Zum schwarzen Adler", Anton Weidinger's first child was born
on 2 November 1797 and baptized at St. Ulrich's with Elisabeth Weber
substituting for the godmother Anna Haydn. That Haydn's wife was willing
to serve as godmother of the first child of one of her husband's
friends, is yet another proof that the estrangement between Haydn and
his wife has been vastly exaggerated.

The "Elisabeth Weber" who stood in for Frau Haydn is probably identical with the composer's former maidservant who in 1801 is mentioned as recipient of 300 gulden in paragraph 26 of Haydn's first will: "Der Rosalia Weberin, so bey mir in Diensten stand, welches sie schriftlich von mir aufzeigen wird 300 [fl]." Anton Weidinger's daughter Anna already died on 1 December 1797 of "Fraisen" (cramps).

The entry concerning Anna Weidinger's death in the municipal death register. The child's age is given incorrectly and should read "4 Wochen" (A-Wsa, TBP 107, W, fol. 27v).

[1 December 1797]

Weidinger Mr. Anton I. & R. court theater trumpeter, his child Anna was
inspected at the Black Eagle No. 20 at St. Ulrich as having died of
cramps at 10 a.m., aged 4 months[sic]. Pibitz.

The Weidinger Literature

The court trumpeter Anton Weidinger is one of the most legendary representatives of his profession, because he was a pioneer of the keyed trumpet which he technically improved and in 1801 had patented, after he had already submitted his invention for a patent in March 1800. Haydn's trumpet concerto was written for this instrument which represented a transitional phase in the development of the chromatic trumpet. What does the existing Weidinger literature tell us about this musician? In his 1993 master thesis, titled Anton Weidinger (1766-1852), Andreas Lindner primarily recounted the history of the trumpet in the late eighteenth century, mistakenly applying J. E. Altenburg's statements in his 1795 Versuch einer Anleitung zur heroisch-musikalischen Trompeter- und Pauker-Kunst to the situation in eighteenth-century Vienna. As far as Weidinger's biography was concerned, Lindner just repeated the information from Heuberger's old article and copied all available documents in the holdings of the Obersthofmeisteramt related to Weidinger's employment at the Vienna court. Concerning Weidinger's life between 1804 and 1810 Lindner writes: "Zwischen den Jahren 1804 und 1810 sind kaum biographisch bedeutende Informationen greifbar" ("Between 1804 and 1810 hardly any relevant biographical information is available.", Lindner 1993, 77). Receiving no competent advice at all from his supervisor, Lindner limited his research to the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv and ignored all other archives where he would have found useful information concerning Weidinger's family life. In 1999 Lindner published his dissertation titled Die kaiserlichen Hoftrompeter und Hofpauker im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert which received the following overexcited praise from Edward H. Tarr: "It is impossible to give a critical review of this book, for a reviewer will repeatedly lapse into applause and tirades of praise. Andreas Lindner, all historically interested trumpeters are in your debt for having provided us with this thorough and perceptive book. It is every bit worth its prince[sic], and I hope that many scholars, institutions, and libraries will order it." Tarr was certainly not in a position to judge the quality of Lindner's research. Because Lindner only consulted one section of one single Vienna archive and even ignored the documents of the Obersthofmarschallamt that are held in the same building, his book is comparable to a one-legged giant limping in circles. This "thorough book" consists of nothing but transcriptions of hundreds of (mostly redundant, sometimes irrelevant) documents from the Obersthofmeisteramt that accumulate hundreds of transcription errors in 846 pages. The documents are presented without any context or the necessary information concerning the musicians' biographies, their family relations and social interactions. Most of the musicians are listed with no biographical data except their year of death and even a cursory comparison of the information from the Obersthofmeisteramt with the Vienna parish records shows that most of Lindner's data are false. To turn Lindner's book into a useful piece of work it would need a complete revision and the addition of a second volume containing all the missing biographical information. With two wives Anton Weidinger fathered thirteen children of whom six were godchildren of Haydn. Burying himself in the holdings of the Obersthofmeisteramt, Lindner never even came close to uncovering these facts. In Lindner's "thorough and perceptive book" Weidinger ends up with only one wife and only three children.

A section from p. 554 of Lindner's book on Viennese court trumpeters. It is notable that Lindner is unaware of Wurzbach's 1886 article, that Lindner's source for the place of Weidinger's birth and the date of his wedding is still Heuberger and that Weidinger's father has no name.

It is telling that Lindner's two publications are neither listed in Reine Dahlqvist's entry in New Grove nor in the bibliography of Ulrich Wilker's article on Weidinger in Laaber's 2009 Haydn-Lexikon. In the main series of the new edition of the MGG encyclopedia Anton Weidinger was ignored and only received an article in the supplement. The state of knowledge concerning the actual technical design of Weidinger's keyed trumpet is still surprisingly fragmentary. None of the aforementioned authors, for instance, ever became aware of the fact that Weidinger's patented trumpet had seven keys.

Anton Weidinger's Family Background

Lindner describes Anton Weidinger's father as "Instructor bein Barhamer" (adding no usable information in his footnote), but he has no idea what this means. Ignaz Parhamer (1715-1786) was the head of the Waisenhaus Unser lieben Frau am Rennweg where from 1764 until at least 1768 (the year his daughter Maria Hedwig was born on 1 April at the Vienna orphanage) Anton Weidinger's father Joseph was employed as trumpet teacher of the orphanage's noted musical forces. Hence Anton Weidinger's first teacher was not Peter Neuhold, but his own father at a much earlier time.

The Waisenhaus, the St. Marx Hospital and its church on an engraving by Johann Ziegler (A-Wn, KAR0500236)

The title page and page 10 of the Vollkommener Bericht von dem MUSIC-Chor deren Knaben in dem Waysenhaus Unser Lieben Frauen auf dem Rennweg from 1764 (with thanks to David Black for providing this document). Joseph Weidinger is listed as trumpet teacher at the lower right. His colleague Johann Georg Heinisch (b. 19 November 1719 in Stružnice) was a younger brother of the legendary trumpeter Johann Wenzel Hainisch (b. 9 May 1708 in Stružnice). The name "Johann Baptist" Hainisch given by Lindner and Harten is false. The encyclopedic literature about Hainisch is mostly based on guesswork and misinformation (Uwe Harten, Art. "Hainisch (Hanisch), Johann Baptist", in: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon).

As of 1774, the orchestra of the orphanage contained 19 trumpeters and three timpanists. Some of the boys who performed at the Waisenhaus on 7 December 1768 under the direction of Mozart had certainly been pupils of Joseph Weidinger. A paragraph in the report in the Wienerisches Diarium about this concert (missing in Deutsch's Dokumente) explicitly refers to three groups of trumpets and timpani:

A clip from the report in the Wiener Diarium of 10 December 1768. For more information on musical practice at the Waisenhaus see: David Black, "Mozart and Musical Discipline at the Waisenhaus", Mozart-Jahrbuch 2006, 17-33.

On both sides outside the church all the house companies paraded with
their field music, including three choirs of trumpets and timpani. The
reception of Her I. & R. Majesty and the four royal Highnesses by His
Princely Eminence the cardinal of the Roman Church and the local
archbishop took place at the main entrance of the above-mentioned church
with the attendance of the complete clergy, accompanied by the joyful
sound of trumpets and timpani.

Anton Weidinger's father Joseph Weidinger was born on 2 January 1723 in the hamlet Willersdorf near Ober-Grafendorf in Lower Austria, son of Lorenz Weidinger and his wife Elisabeth.

The entry concerning the baptism of Joseph Weidinger on 2 January 1723 in St. Joseph's in Ober-Grafendorf (Ober-Grafendorf, Tom. 1/4, 144). Weidinger's godfather was Simon Huzinger from Wantendorf.

On 25 June 1749, in the church of St. Othmar in Mödling, Joseph Weidinger married Maria Catharina Vögl, daughter of Johann Augustin and Regina Vögl from Mödling. At that time Joseph Weidinger was registered as "Thurner Gesell", i.e. an apprentice of the Thurnermeister, the head of the municipal band.

The entry concerning the wedding of Anton Weidinger's parents on 25 June 1749 in the church of St. Othmar in Mödling (Mödling, St. Othmar, Tom. 3, 1014). Joseph Weidinger's best man was his fellow "Thurner Gesell" Johann Georg Klein, the father of the clarinetist Johann Georg Klein (1754-1832).

Joseph Weidinger, music instructor of long-standing merit at the k.k. Waisenhaus, died of a stroke on 2 November 1784 at the Waisenhaus and was buried gratis two days later in the St. Marx cemetery.

The entry concerning the death of Joseph Weidinger on 2 November 1784 and his gratis burial in St. Marx (Waisenhaus Rennweg, Tom. 1, fol. 30). The burial is recorded as having taken place on 3 November in the Bahrleihbuch of the Cathedral (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1784, fol. 320r). Joseph's wife Katharina Weidinger had already died at the Waisenhaus on 22 November 1769 of biliary fever (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1769, fol. 283v)

The 1802 marriage entry of Joseph Weidinger's son Franz (d. 25 June 1814) in the parish records of Altlerchenfeld also documents his father's early activity as "Thurnersgeselle" in Mödling: "Franz Weidinger Trompeter im k:k: Hoftheater von Mödling geb. Thurnersgesellens = Sohn". The age given in Franz Weidinger's marriage entry is correct, the one given in the announcement of his death in the Wiener Zeitung is wrong. Franz Weidinger's bride was Katharina Baumgartner (b. 21 December 1772), the daughter of a Fragner in Neubau.

The entry concerning the wedding of the trumpeter at the court theater Franz Weidinger (Anton's elder brother) on 18 August 1802 with a reference to his father's profession "Thurnersgeselle" (Altlerchenfeld, Tom. 2, fol. 44).

Anton Weidinger's Baptismal Entry

Anton Weidinger was born on 9 June 1766 at the Waisenhaus am Rennweg (today Rennweg 89B) and was baptized at the church of the orphanage "Maria Geburt" which at that time was a succursal church of St. Stephen's Cathedral. His godfather was the Mödling-born I. & R. chamberlain announcer Johann Michael Waldmann (1737-1798) who was a brother-in-law of Anton's mother. Weidinger's never before published baptismal entry reads as follows:

The entry concerning Anton Weidinger's baptism in the Waisenhauskirche in Erdberg (A-Wd, Tom. 86, fol. 199r). Enviably ignorant of the Weidinger literature Edward H. Tarr, in his article "The trumpet before 1800", writes: "Dahlquist and Lindner were the first to discover that Weidinger had been born in 1766, and not in 1767, as can be read in every reference work." (Tarr 1997, 313). As stated above, Weidinger's exact date of birth was first published in 1886 by Wurzbach.

Weidinger's Application for a Marital Permit

In the course of my search for Anton Weidinger's marriage contract (bearing Haydn's signature) I was able to find Weidinger's application to his bride's superior guardian, the Vienna City Council, to grant Susanna Zeiss the necessary "Eheconsens" (marriage permit). Her immediate guardian was the retired court trumpeter Peter Neuhold (1721-1801) whose consent was also essential for the marriage. Although it is usually a part of such a file, Weidinger's application does not contain his marriage contract.

A section of the cover sheet of Anton Weidinger's application for a marital permit for his minor bride (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 1049/1796)

Anton Weidinger, trumpeter in the German theater orchestra, requests to grant the marital consent to the minor Susanna Zeiss und to schedule an imminent hearing. The applicant, the bride Susanna Zeis, and her guardian should appear on 12 January 1797 at 10 a.m., wherefore a draft of a marriage contract and lists of each party's assets must be brought along. Ex Consilio Magistrati Viennensis 16 December 1796. Spielvogl. To be delivered to the k.k. Oberhoftrompeter Mr. Peter Neuhold, residing in Gumpendorf No. 57

Since the entry concerning the court's final decision on 12 January 1797 explicitly refers to the couple's future acquisitions as having to become shared property (a clause that was normally part of a marriage contract), it seems likely that Weidinger never actually submitted his marriage contract to the civil court.

A part of the cover sheet of Anton Weidinger's application referring to the final resolution (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 1049/1796).

In agreement with the guardian, the City Council wants to grant a permit to the minor Susanna Zeis to marry Anton Weidinger under the condition that everything the bridal couple will acquire in the future should be considered shared property, and that both parties submit a signed list of their current belongings on paper, bearing the appropriate revenue stamp. By the way this application has to be kept on file and the bridal couple is to be informed of the resolution. Ex Consilio Magistrati 12 January 1797. Spielvogl. The resolution was forwarded on 16 January 1797. Spv.

The bridal couple's lists of belongings read as follows:

The list of Anton Weidingers belongings, signed by himself, shortly before his wedding (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 1049/1796).

List

Of the complete assets consisting of furniture, clothing and other items which by order of the honorable City Council was herewith drawn up by their owner Anton Weidinger.
Items.
–– Annual salary as trumpeter at the I. & R. German theater of 250 f.
1 new inlaid hardwood-cabinet with drawers
1 bed including bedclothes
4 chairs and 1 table
3 sets of proper clothing
1 golden pocket watch
1 set of silver buckles
2 hats and 2 pairs of boots
Of linen 6 shirts, 6 pairs of socks, a dozen handkerchiefs plus a few more similar trifles p.p.
Vienna 12 January 1797. [L.S.] Anton Weidingermp
trumpeter in the I. & R.
German theater orchestra

The list of Susanna Zeiss's belongings shortly before her wedding, signed by Zeiss and Peter Neuhold (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 1049/1796).

Weidinger's first wife Susanna Zeiss was born on 13 March 1775 in the house Spittelberg No. 40, "Zum goldenen Bär" ("The golden Bear", today Kirchberggasse 7), the second child of the court trumpeter Franz Zeiss (Zeise) and his wife Eva, née Schmid. Susanna Zeiss's godmother was Susanna Neuhold, the wife of the court trumpeter Peter Neuhold.

The entry concerning the baptism of Susanna Zeiss (St. Ulrich, Tom. 34, fol. 194v). The vertical entry on the right refers to the issuance of a baptismal certificate on 7 November 1786 on the occasion of the appointment of Neuhold as the orphan girl's guardian.

Susanna Zeiss's parents had married on 27 July 1773 at St. Ulrich's, soon after Franz Zeiss had been appointed court trumpeter. At that time he was living at the Belvedere. His bride was Eva Schmid, the daughter of a master shoemaker from Vienna.

All these children were born at "The golden Bear" on the Spittelberg, and their joint godmother was Susanna Neuhold. The court trumpeter Franz Zeiss already died on 28 November 1783 of "Lungengeschwüre" (lung ulcers) at Landstraße 328 (today Landstraßer Hauptstraße 7). Unfortunately his probate file (Mag. ZG, A2, 342 1/2/1783) is not extant.

Eva Zeiss died on 29 October 1786 at the Allgemeines Krankenhaus of "Faulfieber" (gangrenous fever) (A-Wsa, TBP 87, Z, fol. 15v). Because of her poverty the City's civil court did not even draw up a probate file. After her mother's death a guardian had to be appointed for the eleven-year-old Susanna Zeiss, and the authorities chose the husband of the girl's godmother, Peter Neuhold to take on this task. On 30 September 1786, Susanna Zeiss's new guardian submitted a table of expenses for his ward to the civil court of the Vienna City Council. The file pertaining to this procedure (Mag. ZG, A3, 974/1786) is not extant. The only source concerning Neuhold's appointment is the following entry in the court protocol.

That
Haydn transferred his sympathy for the inventor also to the private
life is proved by the fact that the famous master appeared as witness at
Weidinger's wedding with Susanna Zeiss, daughter of the trumpeter Franz
Zeiss, which took place on 6 February 1797 in Vienna.

Anthony van Hoboken
misunderstood this passage as referring to the wedding of one of
Weidinger's daughters and H. C. Robbins Landon, in his Haydn Chronicle, and Otto Biba in the 1982 Haydn exhibition catalog duly repeated this error. Because Heuberger did not specify whose witness
Haydn actually was, all authors have to resort to vague statements
regarding this issue. In the forword of their 1985 edition of the trumpet concerto Makoto Ohmiya and
Sonja Gerlach write: "Haydn war Trauzeuge bei Weidingers Hochzeit", a blurry statement that Ulrich Wilker repeats in Laaber's Haydn-Lexikon. In his
dissertation Lindner writes with symptomatic reluctance: "Als Trauzeuge
wird Joseph Haydn genannt" (Lindner, p. 554). No Haydn scholar had ever
bothered to check the actual entry in the records of the Gumpendorf parish,
when in March 2011 I finally visited the parish office and took
pictures of Weidinger's marriage entry. Haydn was not Weidinger's best
man. He officiated as witness of the orphan bride Susanna Zeiss who was
living in Haydn's house in the Steingasse.

The entry concerning the wedding of Anton Weidinger and Susanna Zeiss on 6 February 1797 (Gumpendorf, Tom. 13, p. 135f.)

Weidinger's best man, Nikolaus Imelsky, was born around 1740 and was a municipal customs official. He seems to have been an acquaintance of Anton Weidinger's father which is suggested by the following two facts: 1) At the time of his wedding on 16 February 1772 (A-Wd, Tom. 66, fol. 179r), Imelsky was employed as "K:K: Mauth und Aufschlags Gegenhandler auf dem St. Marxer Posto" (toll and surcharge administrator at the St. Marx customs station) which was located near the Waisenhaus am Rennweg; and 2) In 1799 Imelsky's daughter Elisabeth (born 1 March 1777) was a maidservant in the service of "Herr v[on] Waldmann, Postamtsbuchhaltereybeamter" who was a brother of Anton Weidinger's godfather. After serving at St. Marx, Imelsky in 1776 was transferred to the toll and customs station Am Tabor 93 in the Leopoldstadt. From the early 1780s on he served as customs official for water transported goods at the so-called "Lampelmaut" in the Rossau where he died on 26 July 1799.

Susanna
Neuhold, née Ganaus had inherited this house from her first husband Carl
Veigl, a sculptor at the University of Vienna who had died on 20 July 1770
in Gumpendorf. Haydn must have had a close relation to the orphan
Susanna Zeiss and for some reason was possibly in her parents' debt. On the
other hand, it must also be noted that both Peter and Susanna Neuhold
were older than Haydn and were possibly unable to take care of their
ward. Peter Neuhold died on 19 November 1801, his wife Susanna on 26 May 1808.

Susanna Neuhold's seal and signature on her will (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 328/1808)

I have delved deeply into Peter Neuhold's biography (basically doing the research that Andreas Lindner failed to do), but the topic of Neuhold's life will have to be dealt with in a future blogpost.

Peter Neuhold's 1799 Application

Susanna Weidinger's marriage did not legally change her status as a minor. After she had turned twenty-four in March 1799, her guardian Peter Neuhold still had to apply to her superior guardian (i.e. the Vienna Magistracy) to grant her the status of legal majority.

Since my ward Susanna Weidinger, née Zeiss according to the enclosed baptismal certificate A. has completed her minority and at all times has behaved reasonably and honest in such a manner that from this party nothing bad can be brought forward against her, the undersigned requests to declare her a major and grant a resolution that is necessary in this case.

According to Susanna Weidinger's Sperrs-Relation her belongings were estimated at 101 gulden, but this sum was exceeded by the costs of the medical treatment which amounted to 255 gulden. A probate file in the holdings of the court of the Schottenstift, in whose patrimonial jurisdiction the house St. Ulrich 105 was located, normally contains the will or the marriage contract of the deceased person. Susanna Weidinger's marriage contract – bearing Haydn's signature – is missing from the probate file and is referred to as "being located in the municipal registry". The contract is not recorded in the protocol of the City's civil court and for unknown reasons never reached the court of the Schottenstift. Susanna Weidinger's marriage contract seems to have already gone missing in 1807.

The two entries on fol. 1v of Susanna Weidinger's Sperrs-Relation referring to her children and her marriage contract (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Schotten, 2. Reihe, 24987)

Minor children and their whereabouts. two. 1 Joseph, aged 8 years 2 Anton aged 7 years, both at the place of death with their father.

Whether there is a will a marriage contract which was concluded at the City Council by the
deceased as ward according to the law with the approval of the superior
guardian.Its whereabouts in the municipal registry.

In her will, dated 2 September 1806, Susanna Neuhold had bequeathed a bank bond worth 300 gulden to Susanna Weidinger, but since she survived her goddaughter by almost nine months, this bequest never had to be handed over.

When in 1907 Richard Heuberger interviewed Anna Weidinger he was shown Anton Weidinger's original certificate of apprenticeship which was issued on 18 September 1785 and signed by Weidinger's principal teacher Peter Neuhold and five representatives of the Vienna trumpeters' guild. Fortunately Heuberger published the complete text of this document whose current wherebouts are unknown. In his 1993 thesis Lindner writes: "Heuberger refers to original documents whose inspection was made possible by the widow of Ferdinand Weidinger, a grandson of Anton Weidinger. Because these documents are in private property today, they could not be examined." This does not mean that Lindner ever searched for these documents. He simply did not know how to look for them. They are neither held by the archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, nor by any other Viennese library or public institution. The search for these valuable sources leads into an investigation of the descendants of Anton Weidinger's second family.

On 17 November 1811, Anton Weidinger married for the second time (Gumpendorf, Tom. 15, fol. 64). His bride was Justina Barbara Lehrl, born on 2 June 1791 (Gumpendorf, Tom. 12, fol. 150), the daughter of the Gumpendorf schoolteacher, sexton and regens chori Anton Lehrl (1737-1795). Justina Lehrl was a cousin of the painter Friedrich von Amerling whose grandmother Barbara Lehrl was Justina Lehrl's aunt. With his second wife Weidinger fathered the following children:

Some of these children will be dealt with in a future blogpost which will be dedicated to their godparents Ferdinand and Katharina Kimm.

Anton Weidinger's family on an 1830 conscription sheet of the house Strozzengrund 57 (today Strozzigasse 42). Later entries include the notes "gestorben", referring to the parents. Ferdinand was "verh[eiratet]", started out as "Graveur" and in 1838 was "zu klein" for the military. Johann began as "Polytechniker" and in 1845 was "zu schwach" to be drafted. Maria is noted as married and the "Schwager des obigen" and "n. oest. Landschaftstrompeter" Ferdinand Maurer (b. 7 May 1801) was a son of Justina Lehrl's sister Barbara and of Daniel Maurer, Anton Lehrl's successor as schoolteacher and sexton in Gumpendorf (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, KB Strozzengrund 57).

Anton Weidinger's second wife Justina died on 11 October 1850 of "Wassersucht" (dropsy).

A part of the entry concerning the death and burial of Justina Weidinger (Maria Treu, Tom. 12, fol. 150)

Anton Weidinger officially retired as court trumpeter only in 1850, when according to a medical certificate he was already "frail and completely deaf". His retirement had been delayed for decades with the help of substitutes who were cheaper than the appointment of a successor. Weidinger, who survived two wives, eleven of his thirteen children and two of his three grandchildren, died on 20 September 1852 of old age and was buried two days later in the Schmelz cemetery.

The entry concerning Anton Weidinger's death and burial. The word "Versehen" refers to the last rites that Weidinger received (Maria Treu, Tom.12, fol. 231).

The house Strozzengrund 57 (today Strozzigasse 42) where Anton Weidinger died in 1852 (A-Wn, ST 2422F)

The house Strozzigasse 42 today

Owing to the destroyal of all probate records of the Josephstadt district court from between 1850 and 1898 during the July Revolt of 1927, Anton Weidinger's probate file is not extant.

After starting service as "Exspektant" in 1848, Ferdinand Weidinger joined the orchestra of the court theaters in 1851 and in 1855 he became a fully employed I. & R. Court timpanist. His only son Ferdinand Rudolph Alois, who was born on 22 September 1849 (Maria Treu, Tom. 26, fol. 82), broke with the family tradition and became a cellist and pianist. He also became a member of the Hofkapelle and the Hofoper, gave a lot of public concerts and arranged a number of popular concert pieces for cello of which some were preserved by his pupil Josefine Donat and survive in the music collection of the Austrian National Library. When his father died in 1895, Ferdinand Weidinger the Younger inherited his grandfather's papers which after his death on 10 March 1898 (Maria Treu, Tom. 20, fol. 17), according to his will written on 23 February 1898, went to his widow Anna Weidinger.

Anna Weidinger, who in 1907 had still been in possession of Anton Weidinger's certificate of apprenticeship, died on 6 November 1911 of uterine cancer at the Maria-Theresia-Frauen-Hospital (today Feldgasse 9) (Maria Treu, Tom. 22, fol. 244). In her will, dated 24 May 1904, she requested to be buried in the grave of her husband and her father-in-law and bequeathed an amount of 600 kronen to the City of Vienna "for the preservation of this grave for perpetual times". Accordingly this grave was granted the status "auf Friedhofsdauer" (preservation for the time of existence of the cemetery). The grave of Anton Weidinger's son Ferdinand (1818-1895), his grandson Ferdinand (1849-1898) and his granddaughter-in-law Anna Weidinger (1855-1911) is located in group 48B (1/38) of Vienna's Zentralfriedhof.

The Weidinger family grave in the Zentralfriedhof (48B/1/38)

The tombstone of this grave will at some time eventually tumble northwards and no institution in the "Music Capital of the World'" will be willing to pay for its restoration. Anna Weidinger's sole heir was her sister. The fact that this sister was unmarried and had no children makes it rather unlikely that Anton Weidinger's original documents survived. My research in this matter is still ongoing.

Postscript (December 2017)

Just as I predicted in March 2015, the stone of the abovementioned grave of the Weidinger family has since been taken down for security reasons and laid on the ground behind its base.

The Weidinger family grave in December 2017

It will be interesting to see if the City of Vienna will acknowledge her legal obligation to take care of this grave and whether the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will be willing to contribute to the restoration of the grave of two of this orchestra's former members.